There is scratching from inside the waste bin outside a restaurant. Something small and feral must have crawled in looking for food and got itself stuck. A fox, maybe, or a racoon.
Or perhaps, upon prying the lid off, a small child, giving off a very serious stare, while he clutches an armful of expired soup bones.
"If you can break them open," he says, clambering out, "I will share."
[kageyama shigeo, also known as mob by student and a handful of others, has always had a bit of a soft spot for animals. strays in particular always had him coming back with offerings if he could, even though he knew it was probably a bad idea.
that's why he goes to see what the scratching is, imagining a stray got stuck in there. he lifts the lid, ready to take a step back when-]
Ah.
[that's a child. that is indeed a child in the trashcan. waking up here has only gotten odder, it seems.
he takes a step back so the kid can get out, a slow blink.] ... I can do that.
[The child disentangles himself from the mess and clambers out, careful not to drop any of his prize.
It's hard to get a read on his age, but with the way his threadbare kimono is simultaneously too small (the sleeves too short and hem coming up well past his ankles) and too big for his thin frame, he's probably about nine or ten, and his growth has likely either been stunted or he was always just the runt of whatever litter he sprung from.
He trots barefoot over to a pile of snow and grabs fistfuls of it, using it to clean any residue of trash from the bones. Satisfied that they are in an edible state, he begins to divide them up, one pile for him, and another for the stranger who helped him. No good letting a prize like this go to waste - why, they've barely started to smell funny! Perfectly safe to eat.]
Hey onii-san -
[The soup bones divided, he offers up one pile, brow knit in a very serious stare.]
- has a sarugaku troupe come through this city...?
[mob watches a bit helplessly. this... he couldn't let a kid eat this. he also isn't exactly experienced with kids. well, his student, but arataka was 14 and had much different problems than rummaging through the trash for food.
after a moment he crouches down.] Not that I know of. I just woke up here myself. [a beat. what would arataka do? he's the one good at dealing with people, odd situations or not.
hm.] I saw a place I can get you a bowl of noodles down there. If you trade me your half of those. [he. really doesn't want this child to eat them...]
[Woke up here. That pings something and the child turns to face the stranger sizing him up, his stern little face taking on a calculating edge to it. The man's clothes are strange, but he could just be foreign. Like those people who come from across the sea or from Ezo or other strange and mysterious places.
Was there some kind of mass kidnapping? ...If that's the case, perhaps he shouldn't be annoyed with the troupe. Perhaps he wasn't abandoned after all.]
...Onii-san woke up here too.
[A matter-of-fact statement, despite his halting cadence. And the mention of a luxury like noodles is very tempting. But...]
If rich onii-san can afford something like noodles, what is he doing here, picking through garbage?
[There's a sharp furrow in his brow.]
If he is looking for where the pretty girls work, it is not down here.
[ah, this kid... mob needs a moment to process that. where the pretty girls work, save his soul. he manages an awkward,] N-no, nothing like that. I... thought a cat might be stuck in the trash can.
[a pause, then,] So you're like me? A lot of kids seem to be waking up here.
[Some of the wariness slips away. If this man were a friend to cats, that was probably a good sign. The child is at least a few centuries away before Hermann Rorschach is to even be a glint in his parents' eyes, but if he had a concept of Rorschach paintings, he'd consider stray cats and how one responds to them as something similar to indicate a person's character.]
Mm. I woke up in a house in the woods. Did onii-san wake up in a strange house too?
[He squints.]
...Did a ghost chase him away too? Is that why he is out here looking to meet cats?
I did. [a nicer house than most around the area. was he actually rich here and not remember it? odd to imagine, but not as odd as everything else at least.]
No, I've seen spirits around but none have bothered me. Most seem scared. [though if one is bothering this kid...] Is that spirit still after you?
[at least that's something he can handle easily enough in this odd world.]
[it's odd to see a kid speak so calmly about this sort of thing, but it's clear this kid isn't like little human children he's known. not even like psychic kids, though closer to that.
well, at least he won't have to worry about spirits scaring the kid.]
I thought it might be a parallel world. [just a beat before he admits that. kind of refreshing to speak candidly of these things without people getting confused or skeptical.] I'm pretty sure it's not an illusion. Do you remember anything odd about the time right before you ended up here?
[Maul was well-used to being hungry even at his young age. He never got enough to eat whether that had been when he'd lived on Dathomir under the watchful eye of a cruel Nightbrother or under the much crueler eye of his master.
Looking down in the bin and seeing someone just as young and feral as he was, this seemed like a good proposition to him. He nodded in a manner just as serious as the other child.]
[The child peers at the other - some manner of oni? They usually get run out of cities on sight. If he's made it in this far without being caught, he must be skilled. Someone the child could learn from, perhaps.
He gives a small nod, and clambers out - not the most graceful of exits, but the practiced dexterity of someone who's been living rough for a while is still evident. He lays out the bones in a fresh pile of snow, cleaning them, and dividing them into equal piles.]
The stuff inside is good. ...Marrow.
[His brow furrows.]
But my jaw is not strong enough yet to break them, and I do not know where my tools are.
[Probably stolen by whoever brought him to this city.]
[Like would easily recognize like, so it was no surprise Maul had found another feral child wandering around without parents and living rough. That was something he was more than used to given his upbringing.]
'Kay. Let me try.
[Maul stared at the piles of bones hard, trying to summon the Force the way his master had taught him. It was difficult to concentrate on making the life energy do his will when he was so hungry. But that state of being also provided plenty of anger and frustration to fuel his powers. The piles shook for a few moments, the bones rattling just as they would if someone was putting pressure on them, before all of them cracked neatly in two.
[There's a series of small claps from the child. He looks about as close to delighted as his oddly stern face might permit, pointed ears perked upright. He gladly passes Maul a good share of the haul.]
Incredible.
[He picks up one of the split bones for himself, and begins to scrape out the marrow. What a lucky find! It's barely gone off.]
Did you learn at a temple...? All I can do is make a barrier.
[Maul scraped some of the marrow out with his sharp teeth. Not a bad meal for a scrounging Nightbrother kit!]
No, master teaches me most of what I know.
[Maul was smart and picked up on concepts quickly. Sometimes, he learned things during his master's frequent absence just through trial and error, though most of the time the more intricate step-by-step processes were because Darth Sidious was guiding him.]
[At acting and acrobatics! It's all very good stuff - the child quite enjoyed living among them. He hopes he just got kidnapped and they didn't simply get sick of him and dump him off in this strange city with a stranger name.]
Obāsan likes yokai. She can see the ones most cannot, and she is kind to the ones most are afraid of. You are an oni, no?
An oni? [Maul sucked more of the marrow out of one of the bones, his small brow furrowing as he looked confused at the terminology used. He wondered if that was a species he hadn't heard of before.] No, I'm not an oni. I'm a Zabrak.
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C. The Littlest Trashfire That Could (Open)
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that's why he goes to see what the scratching is, imagining a stray got stuck in there. he lifts the lid, ready to take a step back when-]
Ah.
[that's a child. that is indeed a child in the trashcan. waking up here has only gotten odder, it seems.
he takes a step back so the kid can get out, a slow blink.] ... I can do that.
[though once he sees they're very expired...]
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It's hard to get a read on his age, but with the way his threadbare kimono is simultaneously too small (the sleeves too short and hem coming up well past his ankles) and too big for his thin frame, he's probably about nine or ten, and his growth has likely either been stunted or he was always just the runt of whatever litter he sprung from.
He trots barefoot over to a pile of snow and grabs fistfuls of it, using it to clean any residue of trash from the bones. Satisfied that they are in an edible state, he begins to divide them up, one pile for him, and another for the stranger who helped him. No good letting a prize like this go to waste - why, they've barely started to smell funny! Perfectly safe to eat.]
Hey onii-san -
[The soup bones divided, he offers up one pile, brow knit in a very serious stare.]
- has a sarugaku troupe come through this city...?
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after a moment he crouches down.] Not that I know of. I just woke up here myself. [a beat. what would arataka do? he's the one good at dealing with people, odd situations or not.
hm.] I saw a place I can get you a bowl of noodles down there. If you trade me your half of those. [he. really doesn't want this child to eat them...]
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Was there some kind of mass kidnapping? ...If that's the case, perhaps he shouldn't be annoyed with the troupe. Perhaps he wasn't abandoned after all.]
...Onii-san woke up here too.
[A matter-of-fact statement, despite his halting cadence. And the mention of a luxury like noodles is very tempting. But...]
If rich onii-san can afford something like noodles, what is he doing here, picking through garbage?
[There's a sharp furrow in his brow.]
If he is looking for where the pretty girls work, it is not down here.
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[a pause, then,] So you're like me? A lot of kids seem to be waking up here.
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Mm. I woke up in a house in the woods. Did onii-san wake up in a strange house too?
[He squints.]
...Did a ghost chase him away too? Is that why he is out here looking to meet cats?
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No, I've seen spirits around but none have bothered me. Most seem scared. [though if one is bothering this kid...] Is that spirit still after you?
[at least that's something he can handle easily enough in this odd world.]
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No. Once I was gone she left me alone. Zashiki-warashi just usually do not like strangers.
[The child brings his finger to his lips in thought, ears that are too big for his head twitching in thought as he paces in circles.]
Strange houses. Strange city with spirits, but it is not a spirit realm...
[His nose scrunches in annoyance at the effort of wracking his brain for answers and coming up short.]
...Every entity I know about that kidnaps people does not really line up.
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well, at least he won't have to worry about spirits scaring the kid.]
I thought it might be a parallel world. [just a beat before he admits that. kind of refreshing to speak candidly of these things without people getting confused or skeptical.] I'm pretty sure it's not an illusion. Do you remember anything odd about the time right before you ended up here?
cw: food deprivation mentions
Looking down in the bin and seeing someone just as young and feral as he was, this seemed like a good proposition to him. He nodded in a manner just as serious as the other child.]
C'mon out. I think I can do it.
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He gives a small nod, and clambers out - not the most graceful of exits, but the practiced dexterity of someone who's been living rough for a while is still evident. He lays out the bones in a fresh pile of snow, cleaning them, and dividing them into equal piles.]
The stuff inside is good. ...Marrow.
[His brow furrows.]
But my jaw is not strong enough yet to break them, and I do not know where my tools are.
[Probably stolen by whoever brought him to this city.]
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'Kay. Let me try.
[Maul stared at the piles of bones hard, trying to summon the Force the way his master had taught him. It was difficult to concentrate on making the life energy do his will when he was so hungry. But that state of being also provided plenty of anger and frustration to fuel his powers. The piles shook for a few moments, the bones rattling just as they would if someone was putting pressure on them, before all of them cracked neatly in two.
Maul looked very pleased with himself.]
Yay! I did it!
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Incredible.
[He picks up one of the split bones for himself, and begins to scrape out the marrow. What a lucky find! It's barely gone off.]
Did you learn at a temple...? All I can do is make a barrier.
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No, master teaches me most of what I know.
[Maul was smart and picked up on concepts quickly. Sometimes, he learned things during his master's frequent absence just through trial and error, though most of the time the more intricate step-by-step processes were because Darth Sidious was guiding him.]
Do you have a master too?
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[He shakes his head. He doesn't want one either. A master can own you in ways the child would never accept.]
I travel with a saragaku troupe. But obāsan shows me secret things, with smoke and masks and mirrors and minds.
[He smiles - it's a small, thin thing, but genuine.]
She could show you too. She likes things like us.
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[Maul asked, pronouncing the word carefully.]
'N what do you mean things like us?
[He was a bit too young to get offended at the phrasing chosen.]
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[At acting and acrobatics! It's all very good stuff - the child quite enjoyed living among them. He hopes he just got kidnapped and they didn't simply get sick of him and dump him off in this strange city with a stranger name.]
Obāsan likes yokai. She can see the ones most cannot, and she is kind to the ones most are afraid of. You are an oni, no?
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